Jaden's Nightmare

by MegaCheese445

Okay, he touched something he wasn't supposed to touch, and now he's going through more drama than a Harem Anime! Neat, right? Suffered an incident when he was only 9-years old, and lost his parents at an even younger age, Jaden Smith is a very self-standard guy from the trauma. And to top it all off, he's... different from all the other people.

13. Chapter 11: Secrets Unveiled

Disclaimer: I don't own Infinite Stratos.

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"Now, let me explain the situation further."

The room, full of teachers, the main group themselves, and a few others were gathered at the deepest banquet hall of the resort; needless to say that they were safe from any spies or anyone in disguises. But, it wasn't an ordinary hall. The room had a large holographic screen floating in the middle, revealing why they were called here.

"According to the message we have received, 2 hours ago, the Silverio Gospel, a 3rd-generation military IS that was developed by both the United States and Israel, had gone out-of-control at a test facility in Hawaii," Chifuyu calmly said, as if she knew something like this would happen. It didn't sit well for two people.

But hearing her explanation, Ichika was mentally smacked in the face with his realization. It was only 2 hours ago when the teachers were informed, meaning that it's been air-born for quite some time. Knowing that, unnerving as it is, Ichika still couldn't calm down; checking with the other pilots, they were stone-faced silent, not even Jaden spoke, since he was too busy in his thoughts.

"After that, through satellite tracking, we found that the Silverio Gospel would be entering our air-space a mile from here," Chifuyu said. As much as she needed to be a guide for her students, she couldn't quite shake the odd tension in the air, more specifically from Jaden. Mentally shaking it off, she focused back on her students. "That would be 50 minutes from now. Thus, the academy's jurisdiction, we have to deal with it."

Just from the briefing alone, Ichika thought that his head would explode.

Chifuyu, looking a little bit annoyed, cleared her throat a bit. "We will commence the operation at this time," She said. Looking around at the teachers and stand-by personal group, she knew it was gonna be a hassle to deal with but she had to cooperate for the sake of it. "All staff members use the academy's training units to seal off the air space and sea. The main operation will be done using personal units."

This was enough to bring Jaden out of his mental fortitude, hearing that he and the rest of the gang would be needed to destroy this unmanned unit. But, something didn't feel right with him. How could anything be at this point? Just a day ago he found out the real reason his father disappeared from his life, the person responsible for his mother's death, why he can pilot an IS, and the mysterious abilities that have been with him ever since he was 9-years old.

So at this point, he could feel something was off in the room. And strangely it was coming from the ceiling…

"Next, we'll be beginning the planning of the battle," She said. "Anyone with doubts, questions, or any sort of problem that needs to be taken care of before we begin, raise your hand or speak up now at this time."

Cecilia, still battle-hardened in the facial area, raised her hand. "Ma'am, I would like the full specs and data regarding the targeted IS," She said. Laura and Charlotte were most curious out of the group about what they'll be fighting in 50 minutes.

"Very well," Chifuyu said, then slightly glared at her student. "However, this is very confidential information. If any of this is leaked, not only will you be arrested and charged, but will be placed under house arrest for 2 years. And given that the secrets regarding the project will be dispelled and shut down for further notice. Understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

A screen suddenly popped up, revealing the information about the targeted enemy. Cecilia and the rest of the group look baffled at what they were seeing; unique long-ranged weapons that can cover an area battle area, and had a very advanced AI installed within their systems. Its frame was like anything before, giving it spectacular mobility.

Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte, and Laura were all exchanging serious views and glass at the data they were seeing. Judging from their specs compared to the Gospel, the enemy overtakes them with a slight advantage inability, long-range, short-range, and mobility; it can cross the pacific ocean in under 10 minutes from what the specs say. The only ones who couldn't compare that much were Ichika, Jaden, Keith, and Houki.

"But," Yamada turned around in her chair. "That would mean that we would have only one chance. Only a unit with single-shot capabilities will be enough for the mission, not to mention the speed that will be needed to catch up with the Gospel in the first place."

After hearing Yamada's explanation, everyone turned towards Ichika. Surprisingly enough, he looked calm. He noticed the eyes' locking onto him and could only clear his throat from sheer embarrassment. He and Jaden have been back for only a week, so the stares from the girls were slightly unnerving to deal with; Jaden had a huge factor to play after the lesson he received a week before they got here.

"As much as I hate to say it," Everyone looked over at Jaden, who unexpectedly opened his mouth. "You're our only shot at completing this mission, Ichika. While it was a good run, you lived to tell a great story. And forever will you name be remembered in the books of-"

"Why are you talking as if I'm going to die?"

"You might…" Jaden said, shocking everyone who was in the room to some degree. "Rule #1 of war: never expect a great outcome in a fight you don't know about, especially if you're going to fight without second-hand experience with the designated target."

"Thanks…"

"Very well then," Chifuyu interrupted the awkward mood. "Now, let's discuss the battle plan. Amongst you pilots, who has the fastest speed?"

Just as she said it, no one said anything. Cecilia wanted to chirp up, but what happened weeks ago is still stuck in her head, Charlotte, the same. Laura had the expression, who refused to work with someone who almost killed her, Rin was just disappointed and didn't want to even think about it, and finally, Keith, who didn't have that much experience at all.

There was no telling what Houiki could do, so she stayed silent; Chifuyu looked at the group with a hint of irritation. She understood the situation between the girls and the two boys, but there was no time to be second-guessing when something extremely dangerous was heading their way. Jaden looked at the conflicted faces of the other pilots and sighed.

"Guess I'll have to"

"Hold on, hold it! I have a better strategy!~"

The sudden voice from the ceiling threw everyone off, except Jaden. But they saw that Tabane was peeking her head out of the over-head vent above Houki. Jumping down and doing a quick roll, she speed-walked over to her dearest friend that she loved oh so much. "Chi-chan, Chi-chan," She said. "I have a better solution to your problem and it requires printing! So where's your printer?"

"Will you leave us alone at the time…!" Chifuyu snarled at the woman, to which it had no effect due to her carefree nature. But she did notice the glare that Jaden gave Tabane. What happened between the two? It was all she could think about considering how he acted when she was around.

"No-can-do, alright?" Tabane poked the brink of Chifuyu's nose, frustrating the woman even further. "I think it's the time for the Akatsubaki to shine throughout the world! Or the debut if you can't keep up; wasn't lying about the specs however, it can fly at supersonic speeds even with an additional packet!~"

As if on cue, again, screens began to pop up out the middle of nowhere, replacing the screens that were displaying all of the Gospel's specs. "Let me explain," The super-genius said before looking back at the screens. "Now, the kind-hearted Tabane will start to explain the basics to ya! This includes you Ikkun~" Turning back for a brief moment to throw an anime-style wink at her best friend's brother.

Flinching a little from her affection, he visibly blushed. It was rumored that he likes older women, but it was never confirmed. Houki looked on in jealousy. Her sister was very beautiful indeed, but she was too old for him, or could it be that he likes older women without her knowing? It was confusing since she never figured it out, but he had her; his potential wife, if he was brave enough to ask her out.

"First," Tabane cheerfully said, again. "4th generation are 'those all-purpose frames that don't require any assistance in equipment. Right now, it's still in the planning phase. Did you understand that al Ikkun?~ Tabane-san loves outstanding students."

"I kinda get it," Ichika surprisingly said. "If I remember correctly, every country had just begun the 3rd generation phase, after so much experimenting. Wait! Why did we suddenly skip an entire generation?"

"That's because this super-genius was just warming up! In all honesty, this was more like an appetizer for me, but that's because I'm Tabane-the-genius after all," Smiling from ear to ear, she said her reason why she was superior to everyone. Ichika momentarily frowned at her response. He knew Tabane from when he met Houki all those years ago, but never displayed this level of cockiness. 'Time changes, everyone changes, huh?'

"Also, did you know that the Fold-out Amour was implemented inside the Byakushiki's primary weapon, Yukihira Niigata, Ikkun? I installed it to try it out~" Tabane casually said, shocking everyone except Chifuyu, Jaden, and Ichika himself.

Ichika had a hunch anyway. It was thought about and researched when he and Jaden were suspended during those 2 weeks. It was close to before meeting Keith, that Ichika and Jaden theorized each of their units and the mystery between them. Now that it's been confirmed by the person who did it in the first place, it wasn't that surprising. Tabane however, noticed.

"What's wrong Ikkun?~ Don't you feel honored by the fact that I, Tabane Shinonono, the super-genius, tinkered with your IS?" Tabane asked Ichika, to which he didn't find a great response. "It makes this genius sad that you didn't appreciate it like I thought you would," Making a sad face, but it wasn't enough for Ichika to retaliate.

This now caught her attention even more than before. Ichika was never like this, surprised by her antiques and whatnot. To be honest, she found some sort of pleasure from seeing his flushed face when she'd jokingly make advances on him, but today was a killer for her; she's never seen him so… matured.

"Anyway," She said. "And because development went so well, Akatsubaki's entire armor is made out of Fold-out armor!~ But when the system is at maximum ability, the specs will double! Didn't I tell you that I was a genius already?~"

Everyone became silent. The only ones who didn't take it as much were Chifuyu and Jaden, for obvious reasons. Tabane, in the middle of her cheerful dance to herself, made eye contact with Jaden. In short, it wasn't a pleasant moment; Jaden glared at her while she didn't even care, but smiled. That smile. Jaden could have only imagined the kind of smile she had when she killed his mother and forced his father into hiding. Thanks to her, his life is a living hell now.

"By the way," Tabane said. "Did I also mention that Akatsubaki's Fold-out armor can configure itself? It can change to the offensive, defensive, and maneuverability along the way! This is the 4th generation frame, a multi-type beauty~!" Tabane said casually again.

No one said anything, again. That wasn't something that can be excused with the simple words of being 'strange', it was something else entirely on its own. All the countries are pouring money, time, talent, and research into a devastating race to develop the 3rd generation frame. And… all that was meaningless in such a short period. The sad part about it was that none of it was nonsense, not at all.

By now, the world already knows that the Dunois corporation is still at the foot of the lead; being that they are still behind that of developing a 2nd generation IS, which in fact, is already outdated at this point. And yet, Tabane herself has already made a foundation, a revolutionary invention; the next step to the IS, 4th generation, in what, a few days, months?! It didn't make sense at this point.

Tabane looked back at Chifuyu's students. "So that's that!~" She cheerfully said, again, for the billionth time. "It would be a different conversation in itself if we pulled up the Akatsubaki's specs, but that would be a complete disaster. And also, there's the matter of… 'that'~" Casually as she could be, she said.

"Ah, but you see," She said. "Akatsubaki is still incomplete, so don't show that kind of expression, Ikkun. Seeing you look so down-hearted, this genius doesn't feel like playing any more pranks." But honestly, Ichika wasn't giving a frowned expression, more like concentration from the information he was hearing.

"Speaking of which, about that rampant incident, it reminds me of that White Knight incident ten years ago, don't you think?" Turning around and giving Chifuyu a sweet-but-strange smile. Chifuyu flinched and looked away for some reason she couldn't explain. But someone else didn't take that lightly.

Jaden. His eyes bugged when he heard that come out of her mouth. Rampant IS incident? Could she have been talking about the massacre that happened 6 years ago? Remembering back to that day was the second-worst time in his life. For god sake! He was turned into a walking IS, and for the 6 years… hell brewed in his life. Clenching his fist, he took some deep breaths. He was seconds away from attacking her.

Another thing that caught his attention was the other incident, the White Knight. That event happened ten years ago. But in the beginning, no one believed or recognized her accomplishments. None believed that it could 'surpass all current weapons', and some of them believed that it 'could not be trusted'. But the strange thing is that it happened a month after her invention was unveiled.

A hacker launched 2,341 from all of the other nations that made a sudden and unprovoked attack upon Japan, and it was all at one time. The thing was that the hacker made sure that they wouldn't be controlled after launch, thus locking them down. The world sunk into chaos and despair. Until, at that moment, a woman in a Silver IS stood before every and every one of the missiles.

It was said that her face was covered with a visor, so nobody knew her true identity. However, that woman was a menace to society. She single-handedly took down 1,221 of the missiles in all, and just used her sword alone! The remaining ones were still locked in guided mode, so she used something different. She wiped out the rest of them with what was referred to as a 'charged-particle gun' or some sort.

However, the world was not dumb enough to not respond to something this unexpected. Japan ignored the international treaty and began to attack the IS. its orders were to capture it, investigate it, or if possible enough, destroy it. But the IS was on a whole different level. That same woman took down each of the jets that were attacking it, without taking a single life that day.

Even so, before any more troops were sent in, it vanished. It was like an illusion to the world, but in reality, it was indeed real. They couldn't track it down using radar, and they couldn't even identify the pilot by its eyes since the visor was protecting her face. It showed complete invisibility. Once the machine was able to disable 2,341 missiles, 207 fighter jets, 7 cruisers, 5 aircraft carriers, and 8 satellites without killing one person that day. Needless to say, the IS was instantly famous the next day.

"Having such a machine that can easily overpower our military is preposterous!" Said a random news employee years ago, making the news channel famous overnight. Even to this day, it's still famous for being the first to announce the IS to the world.

"So because of that, my beloved IS became famous!" Tabane remembered back to that day, sitting in her lab, tinkering with new parts she'd magically achieved. "I wouldn't care about women getting special treatment, but if I was careless I could have easily been assassinated or kidnapped. When you think about it, that feels like a certain country that we are all aware of!~"

Tabane described it felt like a mother who is very proud of her daughter or son that performed well in a talent show. Then she turned towards Chifuyu. "Even so, I don't know who the White Knight is? Who was it? What do you think Chi-chan?~"

"No clue…"

Tabane then did a thinking pose. "If I were one to guess, and given I am because I'm Tabane-the-genius, I guess her bust size was 88cm-" Before she had time to even finish her sentence, Chifuyu struck her down. That was her attendance book attack, the most deadly weapon of them all, standing next to a gun.

"That's too much Chi-chan~! This Tabane-san's brain got split in two, ya know?"

"Oh? That would be nice," Chifuyu sarcastically said, dusting off her attendance clipboard from probably the stupidity that it caught from hitting her. "Then that way you can think on things with both your left and right at the same time."

"Ahh, indeed!~ you're so smart Chi-chan."

Then Tabane proceeded to hug Chifuyu, with some resistance from the woman. All while this was happening, the students didn't even say anything for the past 10-15 minutes, mostly because they are processing this information. Cecilia, Laura, Charlotte, Houki, Rin, and Keith watched on in the 'attempt to hug your best friend, while she is constantly pushing you away' match, while Jaden and Ichika were left to ponder about things.

So much information. It was only yesterday that Jaden had gone through this, now he's going through it again with the recent person he hates the most in the world right now. But he wasn't done there. The White Knight incident. Even a newborn baby could figure out who the pilot was but Ichika was stumped on the matter. Jaden however, knew the truth.

It was Chifuyu. Yesterday, with his father, they talked some more to ease the past aggressions and tension between them further before he had to leave. Eventually, they touched back on the subject with the incident with the White Knight; long story short, he was briefed in on everything. The female that was piloting the White Knight was none other than Ichika's big sister, Chifuyu Orimura.

Well, it wasn't that hard to decipher anyway. Considering the way that Tabane and Chifuyu acted was that of elementary kids. More evidence is to her Mondo Grosso recording from years ago, she was the undefeated champion and everyone knew she was going to win back-to-back. And more evidence is every day, girls, models, men, and even photographers admire her appearance, personality, and strength. So, it wasn't that hard.

Last but not least, her hair. Numerous sites, rumors, news channels, and even from the pilots that fought her all those years ago stated that the woman that was piloting the machine had long black hair. At this point, it's no wonder that where she goes she's bomb-rushed with paparazzi.

"Speaking on that matter," Chifuyu finally managed to push the crazed genius off of her. "How long can you adjust the Akatsubaki?"

"Give me 7 minutes-tops~"

"Okay," The famous devil teacher looked back at her students and sized them up. Her eyes landed on Jaden for a split second and felt the intensity of his glare. Judging from how his view was currently, he'll attack Tabane within an inch of his life, if given the chance. She didn't quite know what happened between them but didn't want to risk it. "This mission will be carried out by Orimura, Shinono… and Smith! You have 30 minutes, get ready at this instant!"

With that, she clasped her hands and everyone got moving beside the personal IS users. It stunned them to include Jaden out of the mix when everything was already done. The true reason lies within both of his eyes. Chifuyu, from her standpoint, saw his behavior towards Tabane and knew for a fact that he'll attack her at any given moment. That's not even counting his abilities, which she chose not to pursue since before his suspension.

"Those with nothing to do are to help move the equipment," She said. "Or do anything else that they can help you with. The selected people are to tune or adjust your ISs to the best way you can for this mission. Don't be sloppy or screw around or so-help-me, punishment will be severe when we get back! Dismissed!"

The other pilots finally had the floor to move and help out with other things that the teachers needed help with, while Jaden, Houki, who was currently being hugged by Tabane again after not seeing her for so long, and finally Ichika, who was taking in the information one last time. But Jaden had something else to say.

"Wait a minute," Speaking up, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards the boy. "You included everything else but the pilot's name, didn't you?" Gave an all-familiar stare at Ichika's sister, to which she stared back at him with the same intensity. They were locked in a staring match for at least a couple of seconds before Ichika tapped him on the shoulder.

"What do you mean pilot? It's a rogue IS that went out of control," He said. "From what the data said, it has advanced AI installed. It could have had an error and made the systems fail, leading to it becoming a substantial problem to deal with and-"

"Ichika!" Jaden stopped him there, surprising the boy again for the millionth time. "From what Orimura-sensei said and showed us is true. The Gospel does have an advanced AI, but that doesn't mean there was no pilot to start. I know that because I met the pilot, Natasha Fairs."

Hearing that, the IS group was somewhat surprised at this sudden news. It was no secret about the pilot of the Gospel, but a surprise that a student from the academy, who also is one of the only males in the world to pilot the machine, knows her personally. Chifuyu just sighed and shook her head, hoping that this wouldn't have happened. And Tabane, who also perked up when she heard him talk, was somewhat impressed.

"And something else doesn't make sense here," Jaden stood firm on his ground and out the side of his eye, looked at Tabane, who smirked a bit from his intelligence. She knew he was smart, he was his son after all, but to this extent was… now impressive. "If I'm correct about something else, the United States and Israel are nearly 7000 miles away from each other. Meaning, that after it went rogue, it took a bee-line east where Japan is currently," He said.

Now that he said it, it was weird for that to happen. Ichika quickly thought it back over, and when he was done, it made sense now. The Gospel may have an advanced AI and recently learned pilot, Natasha Fairs, but is it a coincidence that it just went rogue and headed straight for Japan? From what Jaden could be saying, it had to have been hacked or controlled to a certain extent.

And another thing. Ichika noticed the glare that Chifuyu was giving Tabane after they were sent back in when the whole situation was announced. It could only mean that…

"That's enough!" Chifuyu barked, snapping Ichika out of his soon-to-be revelation. "We didn't have enough time as it is and we will not waste any more time now! Orimura, Shinonono, Smith go and prepare for the mission this instant! Everyone else, do what needs to be done," As she said it, she glared at Tabane for a brief second. Noticing the glare, she smirked a bit harder from the attention.

Jaden left immediately followed by Ichika, wanting to hear the final piece to the puzzle that he figured out alongside his friend. Houki however, stood there for a minute and looked over at her sister, who pulled up several screens and typed mid-air on her digital keyboard, working on her brand-new IS.

She could only smile, a very corrupted one. After so long, 3 months exactly, she finally has her unit. A power that she wanted ever since she was a kid, all on a bracket with white and gold bells. At times like this, she could only thank her sister for spoiling her, but she could never admit to saying that.

Back with Jaden and Ichika, the tension was in the air. They only had 30 minutes to prepare and execute a 'one-shot kill' by the teachers' standards. Both of them ignored all the girls that were still up at this hour; figuring the girls still didn't want to talk with them, but they did look considerate given their stone-cold faces. Eventually, they made it to the beach where Ichika looked upon the horizon, seeing the sun beginning to set.

Sitting on the ground, they sat in silence. Not a word came out of their mouths. The two boys needed the momentary silence for what's about to come.

"Tabane did it, didn't she?" Ichika was the first to open his mouth, still looking at the sun setting.

Jaden said nothing but Ichika didn't need to hear it from him to understand. How could Tabane do such a thing? Ichika wanted to ponder, but what was the point anyway? It was Houki's sister, the super-genius herself. Whatever she did it for had to be because of a reason, a personal one at best; no way would she use the Gospel to kill random, innocent civilians. Then something else was on his mind.

"Chifuyu…" Ichika said, and Jaden immediately understood. "She was the White Knight, right?" Again, Jaden said nothing. Both of them continued to look out towards the horizon, calming their minds and getting ready for the battle of their lives.

Jaden was on the brink of collapsing. Not only did he find out who murdered his mother, but the one responsible for making the IS famous in the first place. Chifuyu Orimura and Tabane Shinonono, who could have thought, right? Taking a deep breath, he looked out the side of his eye and Ichika. He saw, just from eyes alone, that something had broken inside him. Like trust, he was holding onto, snapped like a tree.

He felt bad for him. He could only imagine the amount of secrets Chifuyu is keeping from him. 'You know what? Fuck it!' Jaden fully stood up and looked down at Ichika, who was still looking at the horizon. "Ichika, I have to talk to you," He said. All Ichika did was look up at him.

"You remember back before we got suspended, I came back to the room… hurt," He said, to which Ichika's interest piqued. He remembered that time, it was after the fight with Cecilia. "Well, I lied. I wasn't training too hard, but ran into someone who tried to kill me."

Eyes widening, Ichika fully stood up confused. "What?! You were fighting someone? Who?"

"That's the thing," Jaden fixed his eyes back on the horizon for the last time because what he's about to say will shock Ichika. "It wasn't anyone from the academy, I know that for sure. But, she looked exactly like your sister, but with a petite body, something not worth drooling over; plus she was shorter."

"What…?" Ichika stood there, stunned. Does he have another sister? From what Jaden is telling him, it sounds like it. "Are you sure that wasn't just Chifuyu toying with you? I mean, when she had a few beers she's suddenly-"

"No, I'm positive it wasn't her," Jaden interrupted, again. "Your sister shows a degree of mercy, this other one I'm telling you about, doesn't. When I met her, she immediately tried to kill me. If it wasn't for my abilities in the first place I would be dead or kidnapped. But that's not all. She said her name, Madoka Orimura…"

Absolute silence. Ichika was gradually taking in the information one at a time, but this was different. Just from knowing Jaden for over 3 months, he wasn't one to play around when something as serious as keeping secrets on a family term. He knows that Jaden had a rough life and lost both of his parents as a kid, so stuff like this wasn't a joke at all to him.

It was the fact that he has another sister. Did Chifuyu know about her? And if so, how long? Jaden saw the frustration and confusion in his eyes. He didn't hate Chifuyu, but she was the one that made the IS famous in the first place. If it wasn't for that, his father would have had lost interest and never tried to reverse engineer a IS core, leading to Tabane not killing his mother and also being responsible for making his father go into hiding. More like he didn't trust her than hate her.

"To be fair Ichika," Jaden said. "Chifuyu didn't know until I said something."

But Ichika didn't respond, just stood there with his head down, processing. What did he mean by Chifuyu didn't know either? She was his big sister. But then again, he doesn't know how old his other sister is. Madoka could be the same age as Chifuyu and hid from both of them, but for what reason? Too much information! Feeling the awkwardness, Jaden placed a hand on Ichika's shoulder and he immediately looked up.

"I'm not saying anything bad about Chifuyu, Ichika," He said. "But just from what I told you, and figuring out that Houki's sister is responsible for putting us in this bullshit, also the fact that your sister, again, was the one who was the White Knight into account. All I'm saying is that we can't trust them anymore, not until they come clean about it."

Taking his words into consideration, he was right. Chifuyu, if not, never told him anything helpful in his life. The only things that mattered were respecting women, defending yourself, and schoolwork. Anything else, he had to learn by himself. Jaden ultimately told him the difference and rules of women and how to deal with them but never had she spent this much time with him. Something that he didn't want to say or even think about was coming into play.

Jaden is a better brother than Chifuyu ever was as a sister.

Just as Ichika was about to say anything, both of their units simultaneously pulled up a holographic screen of Chifuyu, and needless to say she was serious. "Orimura, Smith, the time has come. Get over to the designated waypoint that I pre-setted for you both."

"Understood," Jaden said, but Ichika remained silent. He looked over to see Ichika staring at his sister.

"Orimura! Did you understand that!?"

"Yes… Chifuyu."

"That's Orimura-"

Before she had the chance to finish her sentence, simultaneously both Jaden and Ichika turned off their communications. Jaden for obvious reasons, and Ichika feeling mistrust in his sister. At this point, he didn't care if Chifuyu knew about Madoka or not. All this time, 15 years of his life. Until now he finally realizes that Chifuyu… isn't really like a sister to him. And he has to thank Jaden for that. Blood-related or not, he'll be sure to talk to Chifuyu directly for it.

This time, neither of the two will back down.

---

July's half-lit sky was as clear as ever. The soothing sound of the wind, the fresh air that flowed throughout the entire area was… breathtaking. But now, for three students, it will be one of the most difficult and unnerving times of their lives.

Standing slightly apart from one another, Houki, Ichika, and Jaden were at the waypoint where Chifuyu told them to be after the preparation time concluded. After glancing at each other for the final time, they nodded their heads.

"Come out! Byakushiki!"

"Soviet Ranger!"

"Let's go, Akatsubaki!"

Their bodies were instantly covered in light and IS armors formed around them as a result. At the same time, the boys could feel the mobility and PIC feel lighter compared to what they went through a week ago. Technology is damned, this was already feeling like they were on the moon. Ichika, in the second shift, is the same as Jaden. Houki just got her unit, so it wasn't a surprise that she was stuck in the 1st shift.

"Alright, let's do this," Jaden said. He looked at the two and noticed the awkwardness in the air. Not that he could blame Ichika for what he's going through, but Houki was silent and somewhat smiling to herself. "Remember, once we are in close-range this unit will be out to kill us. So-"

"Quit reprimanding me alright," Houki groaned. "I know and get what we have to do, seriously. But, you don't have to worry about me. I know that I'll be alright."

The way she overtook Jaden talking, somewhat shocked Ichika. He'd never seen her like this before. Did a new attitude come from her IS or something? However, Jaden wasn't in the mood nor had the patience to deal with Houki's mood swings.

"Do I have to remind you that you have no experience piloting your IS?" Adding a bit of spice to his speech, Houki could only slightly growl at the fact that he was right. "At best, the most you got was a training unit. The moment you get your own IS, you think you're the top dog. Listen and listen well! This isn't a time to fuck around Shinonono!"

Harsh. Those were the exact words that came to mind when Ichika was listening in on Jaden's feud. Even Ichika knew that Houki started acting differently when she got her unit, and it wasn't even a day ago. In his eyes, this pep-talk Jaden was giving her was going to be beneficial, and decided to stay out of it.

"Quit letting that power go to your head, and focus on the damn mission," Barking a bit at her, she flinched from the hostile approach that Jaden was giving her. "Or I swear to god that after this is all over, I'll beat some sense into you so bad that even your ancestors would feel it. Understand!?"

But instead of answering, she stood silent and stared at him, shivering a bit. This was a different Jaden from the one that she knew, but also noticed the faint blur of red hint in his eyes. She knew that he wasn't joking around and nodded her head, looking away in the process.

The former took a deep breath and looked at his friend behind him, nodding in the process. Ichika understood and shifted himself. While it was harsh, Houki needed it. Ichika could only wonder what was going through her head now, but he can't dwell on it now.

"Orimura, Shinonono, Smith, can you hear me?"

They nodded their heads.

"The main emphasis of this mission is to execute a one-shot kill," She said. "Remember we have to complete this in a short amount of time. Smith will mostly be supporting the situation, Orimura would be the one shooting, and Shinonono… you'll be piloting. Understood?"

"Understood," In sync, they nodded and said.

The group then got into position. Ichika went to the side of Houki and climbed onto her unit. Normally, she wouldn't have let Ichika get on top of her, but the fact that Jaden was there and just got done reprimanding her, and it was her lover after all. She'll let it slide, just for this once.

Jaden stood by on the other side of her, a bit of distance from the both of them but close enough if he needed to scold her again. Honestly, most of that was just his aggression towards her sister and it just… happened. He didn't want to have to go that far in the first place, but Ichika and he already made the plans to apologize formally for what they did 3 weeks ago.

The operation began. Houki, without hesitation, took Ichika 300m in under one go, followed by Jaden was surprisingly keeping up. While Ichika and Jaden don't fully understand where they stand compared to Houki's 4th generation IS, they've only practiced hi-speed battles for only 6 hours. Half of the time was spent getting used to the speed, but they managed.

That's not even counting the Hyper sensors. In other words, they were barely prepared for this.

They continued to fly at unbelievable speed, the ignition boost pales in comparison to what they were doing now. The sound barrier broke when Houki increased her throttle output, slightly leaving Jaden in the dust. By now, he was about 30m away from them, not far but not close anymore. "Confirming the link to the satellite! Confirm the target's location, only 10 seconds until we make contact!"

Ichika balanced himself on Houki's back and readied his weapon. He closed his eyes and a faint glow surrounded him before it enveloped his frame. Activating his one-off ability, simultaneously, using the ignition boost at the same time to close the gap within him and the Gospel.

He fled out of range from Houki and Jaden, who barely managed to catch up with her speed only because she slowed down. It only took seconds for Ichika to preach the Gospel, and when he did, he managed to land a decent blow to the unit. But, it was directed towards the side. It turned around and smacked Ichika away at maximum velocity before baking away to gain some distance from the group.

"Ichika!"

"Shit!"

"Enemy suit confirmed. Switching to counter-attacking mode. Silverio Gospel, movement starts!"

A mechanical voice could be heard from the public channel that they were using, but it wasn't a woman's voice. Instead, it was a distortion between that of the AI itself… and Natasha Fairs? Jaden knew that voice clear as day, but that wasn't how she sounded the last time he met her. It was during his 2 days of learning the basics of the IS that it happened.

Not dwelling further, the Gospel spread its wings and hell-fire rained down upon the pilots. Ichika, after quickly recovering, dodged out of the way to avoid the blasts. Same for Houki and Jaden, who failed to land a blow.

"Ichika! I'll buy you some time," Jaden said while dodging the rain of blasts that the Gospel was currently throwing at him. "Let's do that thing we did against Laura, know you, the final blow we did?" Hearing that, Ichika had a momentary flashback. The reason why they were in that whole predicament in the first place, Laura.

"Ehh, Got it!"

Hesitant at first, Ichika made up his mind. Those bullets were shot out with high pressure as an energy source, from what looks like feathers from his perspective. And to make it worse, instead of hitting the armor, they exploded when they got near him. The main weapons of the Gospel seem to be explosive-type energy bullets but that's the problem.

Closing his eyes, Jaden called upon his inner beast. Memory after memory, insult after insult. It seems to have never ended from the way he lived his life up until now. Piloting a machine built for women wasn't how he viewed how he'll live out his life, but it was for his safety. Who knows what would have happened if he revealed himself in the public situation, again.

He opened his eyes to reveal something different. His once amber-brown eyes began to flicker in and out as if something that was being locked up is now starting to break free. Feeling the darkest around him, he clenched his fist. Years and years of being put aside and bullied, he was going to unleash his rage. Everyone will feel the intensity after he is done.

Simultaneously, again, Jaden and Ichika charged at the unit at break-neck speed. Houki was even more surprised now that she was seeing it up close and personal. Her speed was being overshadowed in a matter of seconds, and they seemed to be in sync with each other. Her heart cringed from what she viewed as her in Jaden's spot.

It was supposed to be her and Ichika, not him.

Clenching her chest, she made up her mind. No more. Hell no! She didn't come this far to be shown up by Jaden, again. Today was the day she made her debut, even her sister said it. "Like hell, I'll let you show me up, again," Muttering under her breath, she charged forward directly at the Gospel.

The two boys were only seconds away from their target when suddenly the Gospel reacted a split-second earlier. The wing thrusters went all out ablaze, 36 barrels in total, all aimed in different directions. Houki pulled back a second before Ichika and Jaden clashed. The vibration shook the air as the sound barrier was broken again. Both of the boys went flying in opposite directions, while Houki, after pulling back, did her best to not get thrown away.

It sounded like thunder had struck where both of the boys clashed, but in reality, it caused something more… interesting. The Gospel shook with an unbelievable case of the chills. The vibrating was strong, but this felt different. The mix of an energy neglecting sword and a mix of darkness wasn't a great counter for metal. The Gospel's hinges creaked and vented against their own will.

Soon enough, metal began to crack under the pressure, followed by the visor of the Gospel, cracking. Its wings cringed an uncanny sound as if a baby was being warped while it was crying, begging attention from its mother. Took another thirty seconds for the sound to completely dissipate, but the damage was already set and done. Ichika and Jaden's units had already taken half of the damage, Houki was somewhat alright, but the Gospel wasn't.

It stood still, before crashing into the water below.

"Alright!" Jaden cringed from the pain he was feeling. "How do you feel, piece of metal shit!" In all honesty, he never expected Ichika to go along with the plan. Instead of doing the same thing to Laura, they decided to break reality for a bit. Well, it did her like hell and he's drained of most of his shield, but it worked.

Silence brewed in the air for a couple of seconds, until they felt some pressure. Even while in their units, they felt it. All three of them looking down to where the Gospel had landed in the water, a vortex opened up. Water swirled around it like it was natural, which wasn't at all. The Gospel, once supporting cracks and scratches from the vibration, seemingly began to rebuild itself. It burst out the bubble with… wings, but different.

From what it looked like, it was made from pure energy.

"Dammit! I thought we had it," Ichika said.

"Not yet."

All three of them charged back at the IS, again, it creaked and groaned. Unleashing a wave of energy, knocking them all back. Recovering again, they made a chargeback at it, until Ichika saw something. He ended up moving straight past the Gospel, Houki, then Jaden.

Ichika then turned back and blocked as many bullets as he could, since the Gospel launched some directly at him as soon as he passed by it. Jaden couldn't believe it until he saw what Ichika saw, a boat. Just by guessing, he could tell that it was a poaching vessel. The realization hit him like a train. Ichika was protecting them.

Rushing over beside his friend, both of them started deflecting as many bullets as they could. "What the hell are you two doing!" Houki barked over her communicator. "That was our chance to finally take it down! And you two-"

"There's a ship down there," Ichika said while still deflecting the bullets. Not counting that they were exploding, but the fact that his unit was already below 50% of its shield, meaning that the output will greatly decrease when it comes to his weapons. "The teachers should have sealed the sea off–dammit it! It's an illegal trawler!"

Jaden looked over at Ichika. His unit, Byakushiki, wasn't built to take this much damage. Sure it was a close-combat-type IS but it wasn't a tank. In a moment, also with the Fold-out armor still deployed, his shield will become nonexistent at this point. And just as on cue, Ichika's Yukihira fizzed out meaning that he used up all his energy. At the same time, Houki deflected a barrage of bullets heading towards the boys.

"You idiots!" She snarled, glaring at both Jaden and Ichika. "You're protecting lowlives over this!? Why are you protecting criminals, to begin with anyway!? They're just criminals, what else could they possibly-"

Faster than the human eye could react, Jaden delivered the most brutal right hook he has ever delivered in his life, directly towards Houki. Not even having the time to dodge or react, she took the full force of the punch. She glided back from the sheer intensity that was delivered in that punch. Eyes widened, she looked down at her cheek and felt the bruise. Not also to mention that she was bleeding from her nose. Blood oozed out from her nostril cavity as she wiped it away, full of shock and most of all, terrified.

Even the students gasped at what they just witnessed, and it didn't stop just there. The teachers, Maya included, covered her mouth from the sheer shock. Chifuyu herself, not expecting this at all or even seeing Jaden move from his previous spot, looked disturbed by what Jaden did.

As much as he hated to say it, Ichika kinda felt like knocking some sense into Houki. But obviously, he beat him to the punch. Shivering and terrified, she stared at him. His eyes were still red. He could have killed her with a much more fierce punch, but Ichika was there. He was the only thing holding him back at the point, also the fact that he was just beating some sense into her. It reminded him of a difficult and dangerous time of his life, the point where he almost killed someone.

Getting a bit closer to her, using his real arm, grabbed her by her collar. "Don't. You. Dare! Ever say that again," Snapping at her with such animosity, she said nothing but continued shaking. "Lowlives, huh!? Is that what you're calling them now!? How would you feel if I called you that, huh!?" Yelling at her, she cringed from the amount of malice in his voice.

"From the beginning of the fucking school year, you acted like a compiled, hypocritical, self-centered bitch!" He said, which she said nothing but shook. "You're stubborn as hell, sometimes annoying, and can't even seem to accept your own fucking mistakes! I've never seen such a sack of living shit like you, and that's before Cecilia even came into the picture! And to make matters worse, you called your sister to make you a brand-spanking-new IS, something that you don't even deserve!"

Everyone in the command center could hear every word that came out of Jaden's lips, and they were right on the dot. Well, neither of them besides Chifuyu could call her out on it and not get offended and try to fight back, but that's beside the point. The fact that he punched her and she's shaking like a leaf and Ichika doing nothing about it. It made Chifuyu think: what did Jaden and Ichika do before this mission started? They left for about nearly 32 minutes before she had to phone in, only to be shut down after her brother called her by her first name and hung up on her, both of them.

Possible theories ran through her mind at speeds unknown, but she couldn't dwell on it any further.

"So tell us, Shinonono or should I say lowlife," He spat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't beat the ever-living shit out of you right here, right now!? And don't even think about blaming it on that machine up there, since it's listening in on our conversation," Barking the words at her, she couldn't do anything but shake. It was terrifying, to be staring death in the face. Suddenly, tears start foaming out her eyes before breaking into a hot stream of tears.

"I...I…" She rubbed her eyes, not trying to feel weak in this situation but she couldn't. Calming down a bit, Jaden released her but not after giving a bit of force to it to make his message clear. It wasn't even seconds before she burst out crying, tears streaming from her face like it was a waterfall. Dropping her swords into the ocean below, they disappeared before they even touched the water.

Watching the scene unfold first-hand, Ichika wanted to say something until he received an alert from his unit. Looking up, he noticed the Gospel charge something up above its head before firing it directly at Jaden. Using up all of his reserves, he performed a double ignition boost, scorching past both of them and heading towards the blast itself.

Jaden and Houki, after feeling Ichika pass by them, looked on in horror. He charged at the beast head-on. An IS armor with its energy gone is extremely weak. But he's the only one who lost his shielding, absolute defense would kick in if he took a strike from Jaden or Houki at this point.

A few seconds later, pain exploded around Ichika's body. He could swear that he was feeling his flesh, bones, and skin cry out in pain and agony. Eventually, his armor was shredded off by the attack, leaving only his bare skin. But before Jaden or Houki could even get a chance to save him, another single beam pierced Ichika's chest.

All his movements seemed to have ceased after this action.

Silence brewed for a few seconds before the Gospel set ablaze more bullets from its pure wings. They came raining down, with Houki not even caring anymore, rushing towards Ichika to save him. Jaden rushed forward, also protecting Houki with the little amount of energy he had, before explosions overtook him, sending him crashing down towards the ocean. Consciousness was without a doubt starting to fade, but he didn't have time until he crashed in the water.

Houki, managing to catch Ichika after his fall, looked down at him. This time, even more tears streamed from her face as she held onto her lover, limp in her arms. She and the unconscious Ichika were shot down with her ribbon burning off in the process. They also crashed into the water.

The Gospel simply looked down before looking away, flying off within seconds.

---

Waking up, he felt unusual. The first thing he noticed was that his vision was blurry. Next, he felt like his entire body had been hit by a train. And finally, water. Wait, water? He was underwater! His eyes shot open and tried to yell, but his lungs were filled with substance. He tried to remember the last thing that came to mind before he fell unconscious.

First, he knocked some sense into a certain girl for letting the power go to her head, then he felt a gust of wind pass by him. The next thing he knew was his friend being gunned down and rushing in after the girl, which he beat some sense into, to protect her. Didn't last long considering the explosive rounds took the last remaining of his shield, and he was shot down. But that wasn't it, he was missing something.

That IS, it shot a single shot at his friend, in the chest.

The memories came flooding in at a rapid pace, so much so that he forgot that he was underwater. Suddenly he began gasping for air, looking above him to see nothing but the half-lit sky. How long has it been since he was out? He then finally noticed that his IS was gone, and in standby-form on his arm. Trying his best to reach the surface, he lost air and energy from the short exercise he was doing.

Finally reaching the top, he let out a huge gasp of air; coughing and almost vomiting from the sheer amount of water that was in his lungs. Looking to the left, he noticed land… and everyone else there. The girls, Keith, Chifuyu, instructors, Houki, and… the medical team? It was then that one of the women that were on the team heard the rustling in the water. Turning her head, she pointed out Jaden for the rest of the group to see.

After reaching ashore, two women of the paramedic's team surrounded him. One of them reached out for him, but he slapped their hand away. Confused by his actions, one of them tried to say something, again, but he ignored them. Instead, he focused his attention on the unconscious body that was laying in a stretcher, Ichika Orimura. He remembered what had happened, also seeing the single beam pierce his chest.

Surprisingly walking as if nothing ever happened, he went over to inspect what the damage had been done upon his friend. And then, he saw it. Fixated on the wound, he didn't even notice the condition he was in currently. Sure he was injured nonetheless, nowhere near the state of Ichika, but more than Houki. Suddenly his legs felt like jelly, as he fell to the ground next to his comatose friend. He didn't even know if he was alive anymore.

He didn't even bother to check for a heartbeat. But what he didn't bother to do… was calm down. He could feel it. The rage boiling up past its normal limiter. This reminded him of what happened 6-years ago inexact description. First, he was shot, then he laid there. Next, his brother told him that he fought the IS, with red eyes. But in this case, Ichika wasn't Jaden.

Darkness began to envelop his frame inch by inch. Everyone backed off, spectating what the boy was about to do. His once amber-brown eyes completely shifted into a sinister glow and he looked down at Ichika. For years, fucking years! Ever since his parents died, it was hard for him to fit in. The only person who accepted him was Tyler, and he wasn't even here at this point. Being messed with turned to name-calling, then to bullying, then to fights. It was unbearable!

If he thought that losing his parents affected the way he dealt with life, then he was sadly mistaken. 2 years later, he almost died at the hands of a fucking machine! Now here he is 6 years later, piloting one for god-sakes! And that's not even getting into his disabilities. He tries to live out his life to the best of his abilities, but nothing ever works. It was like it was a dream, a never-ending one at that. More like a nightmare.

It was his nightmare.

Letting out a pained cry, he shouted to the sky. His voice. Something didn't sound right with him. It was as if a dragon crawled inside him, roaring out in pain. Looking directly towards the secondary source of it all, Houki. He growled, launching himself at her. By now she was done sulking towards the ground, where her head had been for the past couple of minutes, and moving away before Jaden got to her. He zipped past her at unbelievable speeds, scaring and shocking everyone.

Landing a few meters away from the crowd, he snapped his head back at the girl, who was now petrified by his appearance. He looked like a demon straight out of hell. "Everyone! Get out of here immediately! I want Orimura treated and put on life-support," Chifuyu said. Right now, she understood Jaden's anger, but not up for him killing her students. She still needed to talk to him after this was all done.

Immediately following her orders, the paramedics' team grabbed ahold of the stretcher and left, followed by the instructors, Keith, the girls, and a distraught Houki, who could only hope that Jaden would snap out of it and come to his senses.

Chifuyu stared down the monster, formerly known as Jaden, in front of her. Speculation that she had been brewing in secret for the past few hours could only assume that Tabane had something to do with Jaden in the past. It could only explain the reason why he glared at her when his speculation on the Gospel's 'rouge' rampage throughout the east. Also when he was glaring at her when Houki got her IS.

Something Tabane did hurt Jaden so bad to the point where his father showed up out of nowhere, someone who he hasn't seen in over 8 years from what he told her. Either way, she was going to finally confront Jaden after letting it slide way too many times. First, she had to deal with this side of him.

Growling at her, he lunged at her, only to be stopped by her hands. She wasn't the strongest in the world just for show, Chifuyu had the strength to prove it. Although, her hand ached from stopping that punch. "It's been a while," She muttered. "But, don't underestimate me."

Blow for blow, punch after punch they two seemed evenly matched. That's until the corrupted boy lost his footing. Taking advantage, Chifuyu put Jaden in a full nelson before flipping him over, slamming his head on the ground. Recovering, she looked at what she did. Chifuyu wasn't proud to be fighting one of her students when he's down like this, but it was either that or letting Houki die.

Getting up from the head blow he just received, gripping his forehead, he shook to snap himself out of it. When he came to Chifuyu was looking at him with a disappointed glare. "What happened? Did I blackout? Oh shit, what happened to the Gospel-"

"That's quite enough!" Chifuyu snarled. "It's one thing to have failed the operation, but to try and kill one of your classmates, no words can describe that! Honestly Jaden, you've been acting out-of-line and disrespectful towards your peers, instructors, and mostly, me. So you're going to tell me why you've been acting this way! And if not, expect more punishment by the end of the day!"

Standing there in silence, he didn't know what to say. How could he tell her? She wouldn't understand, right? His face shifted to disgust. "And why should I tell you, huh? You wouldn't understand anyway, not that you've ever been through it before," He said.

"I can if you would just tell me," She said.

Looking at her posture for a second, he could tell it was one of those moments. Ichika had told him before that Chifuyu is a very stern and strict woman; not that he needed him to tell him that when she acts like it every day. But, Ichika told him that Chifuyu also had a calm and chill side to her. Figuring that it was one of those moments, he thought it over for a final time. If it could be anyone, it would be the realist Chifuyu.

Taking a deep sigh, he glared at her. "Listen closely, I'm only going to say this once. Everyone at the damn school is bowing down to you, I don't," He said. Chifuyu ignored the rude comments since she was getting what she wanted. "The reason why I've been such an asshole for the past few hours is because of that damn bitch you prefer as a friend, Shinonono."

"Tabane?" Her eyebrows went up. "What has she done to you?"

"Well for starters, everything!" He snarled at the thought of it. "That manipulative bitch has her way with toying around with everything she touches, wishes, or desires. She's the reason why I'm here in the first place! My father, who I thought was dead for the past 8 years, mysteriously came out of hiding to talk to me! I hated him for no reason!"

Listening to him, she couldn't believe it was such a backstory to it. Sure she met his father, they talked before they even confronted Jaden. He gave the feeling of Tabane when she was around for some reason, but she dismissed it. "What do you mean by no reason? Elaborate," She said.

"Turns out, he's been hiding from her for the past 8 years," Thinking back to his father's words, he remembered them carefully and precisely. "And the reason was so damn dumb, that you would think a toddler was a possession that figure. Turns out, my father was fascinated by the IS and wanted to talk to her, which he failed. A few months later, the IS was so popular that bullshit came into play with treaties, you know, bullshit like that," He said.

Chifuyu continued to listen, perplexed.

"My dad decided to do the unthinkable, reverse engineering," Then, Chifuyu's eyes widened. Reverse engineering? That had to have been impossible for someone to do, even if they studied the IS for a while. Only Tabane knew the core inside and out, and his father succeeded? "He was the first person ever to reverse engineer a IS core. When he finally did, however, she found out about it. And that mother-fucker! She killed my mom and burned my house down to the ground! I was only 7 when I watched my mom, home and supposed dad burn up in flames!"

Chifuyu was beyond shocked at this point. Over the last ten years, she had never, ever heard of a disaster like this before. Tabane Shinonono, the girl she'd been with ever since elementary school, took apart a family all at once. She did it out of spite for men in general, wanting to keep the female nature, the dominant nature between the two genders. Tabane went out of her way to take apart a family at risk of her dreams coming down from a single man.

"And now you know," He said. "Houki is a different story. I don't hate her or anything, but that power was going to her head, even a dumbass would know that it was getting there. So I knocked some sense into her, letting out a bit of anger in the process. Tabane was responsible for the Silverio Gospel, and the unmanned unit that attacked the school."

Surprised that he knew that, she was caught off-guard.

Silence brewed over both of them. Chifuyu knew that Tabane was behind the two incidents that happened, but she never had a hunch that Jaden knew about it. The incident with Madoka was different, but this was baffling. Tabane killed his mother, forced her father into hiding, and shot Jaden's personality into a distraught position. It was no wonder that Jaden has the personality that he has now, the events in his life changed him into a solid person.

"You know what, I can't dwell on this any further right now," Unexpectedly, Jaden looked back over to where the hotel was, tears staining his face. "Ichika is currently on life support, and I don't even know if he's alive. You heard what you needed to hear from me, I'm done," With that, he left back towards the hotel.

Chifuyu sat in silence for a minute before concluding. As much as she wanted to comfort Ichika and Jaden, after what he told her, she needed to focus on the mission at hand. Taking a sigh, she looked on at Jaden's figure walking towards the hotel. "I can't promise you enough Jaden, but I can promise you that I'll help you during these dark times."

Leaving the scene, she didn't even notice the figure watching from a distance, Tabane. She heard everything and for the first time in her life, she was… scared. Why would she be scared anyway? Seeing what had become of Jaden terrified her; never had she thought someone like him existed. It just showed some things she doesn't know about, and the thrill of unlocking them is the mystery she'll uncover soon.

For now, she'll stay silent.

---

It had been 3 hours since the incident happened, and during that time, one of the worst moments ever happened. In one of the rooms in the resort, Ichika had already been laying in a bed for more than 3 hours. Wires and medical supplies hook up to him, but it was already too late.

Ichika was dead.

The damage he'd suffered when the Gospel let loose a fury of bullets followed by a strange energy blast and beam, was way over critical. What finished it was the single beam piercing his chest in the end. The nurse said that whatever happened to him, the beam struck a vital point in his chest shutting down his respiratory system. Needless to say that he was gone, but not completely dead.

Chifuyu took it the hardest, locking herself in the center where all the important things would happen. Next was Jaden. He… took his anger out on a few trees that were outside the hotel, breaking the bark and chipping away at the roots. Then it was Houki, who locked herself where Ichika was currently, being barely kept alive by a machine.

Waiting beside him, Houki continued to look distressed, and the hair with her ribbon, which was burnt, showed her emotions. She remembered the smile that Ichika unconsciously showed her, the comment he made about her personality hours ago. However, Ichika had lost his smile and was laying there, lifelessly.

Houki grabbed her skirt forcefully, the force exerted on it caused her palms to turn pale. She continued to clench her fists as tight as possible as if she was punishing herself. Just a few hours ago, Jaden had punched and nearly killed her for her mistakes; now, she wished that he was here to deliver the final blow.

"Why… am I always so careless," Muttering under her breath, she said.

She always got carried away after obtaining new power.

She wanted to use it.

She would always feel the impulse of wanting to use force.

To Houki, kendo was not a way to train herself, but to discipline herself. In reality, it was a seal. A way to control her violent impulses. But… she knew of the limit that restrains this danger. Like thin ice, it will break if enough pressure is implied. She looked at the standby form of her IS on her wrist. Just when she was about to make the important decision of her life, the door violently opened.

The sudden opening of the door shocked Houki, but she didn't have the strength to look over and see who it was; she was too ashamed to even think it would be someone good. The person who barged into the room without restraint walked over to the devastated Houki. "Ah, I see. You're easy to predict, know that?"

That voice belonged to someone she knew for a short time. It was… Laura?

"Let me guess, you think you're the reason why Orimura is like this, am I correct?"

"..."

"So are you going to remain like this? That's a shame, and here I thought you were supposed to be tough enough to save your lover," Hearing that, Houki pulled her head up and looked back at Laura with a burning rage.

"Don't you say that about me!" Houki then pointed at her, reminding herself of what Laura did to Ichika on her first day of class. "You're one to talk! The first day you transferred into the academy, you slapped Ichika! Only to be nearly choked to death by Jaden, who if I need to remind you, almost killed you. You had bandages all over your chest for about 3 weeks."

"Yes, that is indeed true," Laura calmly said. "I did hate Orimura, and soon to be Smith, but that is now in the past. The difference between you and me, I know when to keep fighting, you don't."

The words hit her like a freight train, and they are indeed correct.

"So tell me, do you want to sit and accept defeat," Pulling up her index finger, she said. "Or are you going to fight as your life depends on it? And before you pick, I'm not forcing you. But think about it, what would Ichika want for you to do when the time is right?"

Houki stood still, thinking about her actions. What would Ichika want her to do? She looked over at the body of Ichika, barely being kept alive thanks to the power of technology. Looking down at her unit on standby. Akatsubaki. Why did she even want an IS in the first place? She knew. To be closer to Ichika. Looking back at her lover for the final time, she swore that she saw a faint glow in his eyes. That filled her with the determination that she needed.

Picking herself off the ground, she stared at Laura with newfound determination. "You're right, I can't sulk around and feel sorry for myself when the IS responsible for putting Ichika in this state is still out there," She said. "I want to fight! For us, this academy, and for Ichika!"

Crossing her arms and smiling to herself, Laura couldn't help but feel proud of Houki. "Now that you have the willpower again, let's go take down that bastard. But first, we're going to need some help for the mission."

Just as on cue, the girls along with Keith and… Jaden followed. Seeing the person who tried to kill her a few hours ago was uneasy. And as Houki was about to say something, Jaden put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry for almost killing you back there, I lost my head seeing Ichika like that. But what I'm not going to apologize for is knocking some sense into you when you made that comment about those poachers, you let that power get to your head."

Expecting a bashful response, Houki just chuckled. "Yeah I get it, really I do," She said. "It's just… having all that power is well… fun in some sick way, but I get it now."

"Yeah it's pretty fucked up when it first happens and the taste is great, trust me I know firsthand," He said, momentarily thinking back on his past.

"Anyways, let's get down to business," Keith interrupted the friendly moment, surprised that he had the guts to do what Jaden and Ichika have been doing for a month, by their words. "While all this crap has been happening, I was tracking the machine. According to my recent data, the target is more than 30km away from here, meaning that if we attack now we'll be able to take it down."

Listening in, each of them stayed silent besides Keith. It was amazing that he had control over the information at this point. Thanking his mind, he continued. "Now it's in stealth mode, but it doesn't have optical camouflage, so the satellites could still pick it up. Thanks to Jaden and Ichika's stunt earlier, it shifted into the 2nd shift, meaning it's going to be hard to beat but not impossible."

Cringing from hearing his name, and the stunt that they pulled, he sighed.

"Yall ready?" Keith looked at everyone, their faces hardened and dead-serious for what they were about to do. "For Ichika!"

"For Ichika!"

---

Awaiting 200m above the sea surface, the Gospel was curled up like a baby. The pure energy wings that extended out from its head covered the curled-up body. Just as it was starting to get comfortable, the Gospel suddenly looked up. The next moment, a supersonic bullet hit it on its head, causing a huge explosion.

"First shot is a success! Don't let up the fire, keep the pressure on it!" Floating 5km away, Laura's IS, Schwarzer Regan, fired the first shot before the Gospel could counteract. But it did nothing as the Gospel, with a whiff of its wings, cleared the smoke in seconds.

The next moment, the distance between the both of them was 1000m, and the Gospel continued to close in; though Laura did her best and played out of the offensive, the Gospel used both its wings to shoot out energy bullets to take out the cannon rounds that Laura was firing, closing in much faster.

Since the recoil of her cannon, Panzur, it didn't allow such mobility. In other words, she couldn't dodge. The Gospel closed the 300m gap between it and Laura, reaching out for her hand. Laura couldn't help but let out a smile.

Gospel, turning around, had to quickly block an assault that was launched by Cecilia, using the stealth mode on her unit, Blue Tears. Also, she was using the Hyper sensor; Brilliance clearance, installed on it to respond with speeds faster than 500km/hr to go with her new packet, Striker Gunner. Assault after assault the Gospel took on Cecilia, also using her upgraded BIT's.

Charlotte, out of nowhere, took advantage of the onslaught that the Gospel was going under, and decided to use her PDWs, letting loose a barrage of attacks simultaneously alongside Cecilia. Quickly shifting from her guns to a more comfortable first-person gun, a shotgun, causing the Gospel to stumble left and right.

But that was for a moment, when the Gospel locked its sights on Charlotte, letting loose a massive attack. "Oh sorry, but the Garden Curtain won't be taken down so easily!" Equipping her shield, placing it in front of her, she took the brute of the attack. Again, simultaneously, summoned a Gatling gun to counter, letting off shots.

This was Charlotte's special ability, Rapid Switch. While she never had a chance to display it or give any further details, it was kept a secret. But when the boys were suspended, she had much time to use it on her fighting peers; Cecilia, Rin, and a new joined Laura to test it.

With Cecilia moving at such high velocity and attacking, Laura shooting from a distance, the Gospel looked even more damaged than when the boys pulled a ballsy move, ripping out the Gospel from the inside out with sheer vibration. Saying something encoded, the Gospel began scattering bullets all over the place.

"Don't you think for a second that'll you get away!"

A crimson red IS, Akatsubaki, flew with Shenlong on its back. "Take it down before it escapes!" Rin barked at Houki, which she understood without any talkback. Houki attacked the Gospel while Rin got off her back to get into battle-mode with her new packet, Landslide, to increase all functionality with her unit. Firing with all her might, she managed to graze the metal of the Gospel, but barely.

"Did we get it?!"

"Not yet!"

Though the Gospel got hit, it continued to move. "That's one tough bastard!" Keith commented, using his IS for the first time since he got here, Collison. There are reasons why he never displayed his IS, being that he only just transferred to the academy and the fear of being talked about for weeks unnerved him to a degree unrecognized.

His IS, Collison, is a heavily modified 1st generation mass-production model. It's a shocker, isn't it? Instead of dwelling on it further, Keith raised his weapon, Mjolnir, a giant-sized ax and threw it towards the Gospel. Took only a matter of seconds when the Gospel, already under heavy fire, to take damage by the ax. But, something unexpected happened. Electricity began to swirl around the machine, before clutching onto the armor delivering a powerful shock treatment.

"What the hell was that!?"

"Shock treatment," Keith, responding to Rin's question. "You think of me as Thor because I'm about to strike this IS down with the power of lightning!" Letting loose another powerful shock of lighting, the Gospel shook with the coursing amount of electrolytes.

Looking at Keith's data on his IS, Rin's jaw dropped. "1st generation?! How do you have an IS that was just starting to shift into the 2nd generation? That doesn't make any sense," She said.

"Don't dwell on it and focus on attacking!"

The Gospel, shaking off the extreme amount of electricity, extended its arms to both the left and the right, even the wings began to expand outwards–at that moment, a sharp glow of light exploded, and rain of energy bullets began shooting. Houki's Akatsubaki was still in a limited phase. Preventing it from overheating and dooming herself, she shifted the setting to defense.

Of course, the reason why the adjustments were made was that she mostly left her defense to Charlotte. This was to maximize the advantage in the group, by splitting up the roles between them. Speaking of roles, Jaden landed a surprise attack on the Gospel directed towards its energy wings.

"Did you forget about me?!"

Using his gun, Blood Moon, he launched a furious assault on the Gospel, but it saw it coming. Quickly leaving the scene, the Gospel flew out of everyone's direction except Jaden. For some reason, the Gospel seems more advanced from what Jaden previously had fought. It was like… it was adapting.

A ball of energy formed above the Gospel's head. It was tired of being ganged upon for the foreseeable fortune. Gunshot after the gunshot, bullets whizzing past its now repaired visor. It was enough. The ball, rather than releasing it, transformed into something corrupted. Electricity danced and swirled around the ball like it was Halloween, and most of all, it smelt dangerous.

The representatives charged forward at the Gospel, except Jaden. He knew something was up just from that energy he saw alone. "Guys don't charge at it!" He shouted but he was too late. Each of the representatives charged forward, only to be pushed away by the massive attack it pulled; a huge wall of electricity shot each IS down, except Jaden and Houki's.

Uncovering her eyes from the attack, Houki growled at the machine. "Damn, piece of shit!" Using emergency acceleration, Houki closed in at remarkable speeds and slashed away at the Gospel, using parts of the Fold-out armor to do special attacks, dodge the enemy attacks, and use her thrusters to raise her position to launch attacks.

The Gospel, taking a critical amount of damage from the Akatsubaki, creaked and groaned. The visor began to crack again, showing the face of an unconscious pilot, Natasha Fairs. Seeing the pilot, Houki gasped. Jaden was telling the truth! He knew the pilot, Natasha Fairs, inside the cockpit, slumped. Readying her sword, Karaware, she stabbed it forward. However-

"I ran out of energy!?"

Using the opening, the Gospel's right hand grabbed Houki's collar. Its wings slowly started to cover Houki, before a barrage of bullets stopped it from continuing. "Leave Houki alone you bastard!" Jaden shot forward, only to be swatted away from one of the Gospel's wings, or so it thought. The boy decided to do the unthinkable, again. Calling upon his inner beast, he gripped the wing with a grip that was unfathomable by normal standards.

"You're not getting away this time!" Continuing to grip the wing, he let out an unfathomable kick to the torso, dropping Houki and falling into the ocean below. Consciousness began to fade from the girl's vision.

She wanted to see Ichika again.

She wanted him to hold her.

She wanted him to love her.

She wanted…

"Ichika…" Muttering his name one final time before she drifted unconsciously. But, that would have never happened. She felt it. The metallic hands wrapping out her frame brought her out of her soon-to-be resting place, the eye's shot open to reveal someone who she thought was dead, Ichika Orimura.

Cladding in his IS, Byakushiki, he looked down upon her with a smile on his face. "Hey Houki, did you miss me?"

"Ichika! But… I thought," Mid-sentence she unconsciously started to cry. Tears streaming down her face caught Ichika off-guard.

"Thought that I died?" He finished her sentence, still smiling at her. "Houki, you should already know that I am not going down without a fight. We've been together ever since we were in your family's kendo dojo."

"I-i know… but."

"Are you crying?"

"i-I am not!"

Seeing Houki gently rub her eyes, Ichika patted her on the head.

"Don't worry, it's alright."

"I'm-i'm not worried…"

"Ya know, you're cute when you're acting tough, Houki."

Madly Blushing from his comment, she looked away in embarrassment. How could she have been so stupid?! Houki completely forgot about Ichika's new personality when it comes to things like this; she was vulnerable in places that she never thought of before.

"I-do! You're the one that got hurt… why are you acting so nice to me now?"

"Well," Reaching into somewhere, he pulled out a ribbon. "Today is July 7th, right? So, Happy Birthday Houki!"

She didn't know what to say other than grab the ribbon.

"Well, since I bought it, just use it."

"Oh okay…"

Looking above him, he noticed Jaden fight the Gospel, toe-to-toe. T wouldn't be long until his power gave out on him and he'll snap, something that he heard happened from one of the girls at the resort. He'll go and help, but…

"Hey, Houki?"

"Yeah-"

Next, Ichika's lips were pressed up against hers. The moment caught her completely off-guard, and unexpectedly, she kissed back. It was passionate, Houki wrapping her arms around Ichika's neck further trying to savor this moment. Took about 30 seconds for both of them to back off from one another, eyes half-lit and staring at each other.

Before either one of them could get a word out, Jaden nearly crashed in between the two. "Hey, what the hell-" He stopped short when he noticed what was going on between both of them. With blushing red cheeks, Jaden shook his head. "If I'm interrupting something here, we still have to deal with this thing first! Keep it in your pants till it's over!"

Just now noticing that Jaden was there, Houki and surprisingly Ichika backed off.

"Not cool bro…"

"Yeah? Keep it in ya pants till this is over, then you get your freak on."

Accepting it, Jaden and Ichika shot forward to deal with the Gospel for the final time. However, Houki just stood there. He did it. He kissed her, without holding anything back. What would Chifuyu think about this? Hell, what would her sister think about it?! So many thoughts and questions ran through her mind in a heartbeat.

Houki's heart started to pray strongly earnestly. As if responding to her heart, Akatsubaki's s Fold-out armor let out golden dust mixed with red flames. "This is…" From the hyper sensors, her machine's energy was recovering at a rapid rate. "Kenran Butou, Akatsubaki's one-off ability?" It meant she can still fight.

"I can do this!" Tying the ribbon Ichika bought for her, she stared at the battle ongoing between the two boys. "This time it will be different!"

As if breaking through the sunset horizon, the crimson IS, Akatsubaki glowed red and gold as it dashed forward, ready to assist the boys however she could.

"It will be different."

---

You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do this; sorry to all the shippers for IchikaXCharlotte, or whatever you ship him with from this series.

First of all, thank you for continuing to read my crappy shorties, and now for answering questions I know you're going to be thinking. First, Keith's unit. I told y'all it's going to be different from all the rest of them. I'll go over and update his OC profile later because right now I'm dying; my fingers are cramping at this point.

Secondly, where do Ichika and Jaden stand against the other pilots? I'm sure you're thinking that Ichika and Jaden alone could have stopped the Gospel with the 2nd shift, but in the original, it all of them combined to take it down plus Ichika in the 2nd shift. They're not on Tatenashi's level, yet, but Ichika is above his canonical version in this story.

Here's in order where they rank; weakest to strongest as of right now: Cecilia, Keith, Rin, Houki, Jaden-Ichika; these two are practically neck and neck with each other, Charlotte, then finally, Laura.

Jaden- Using his abilities, I don't know where to scale him and I'm not risking it.

Tres! How does Jaden know so much regarding the incidents and Tabane? Thank the father for that, plus he has a genius mind.

Cuatro! Are you shipping Ichika with Houki? She may be my favorite heroine in the entire series. Ichika, after being shot and seemingly dead for over 3 hours, isn't himself at the moment. No, but Houki is close to winning Ichika's heart.

Cinco! I told yall character development started! Houki is close to completing hers, Laura is not there yet, Cecilia and Rin's didn't even start, Charlotte is starting after the Gospel incident.

If you want to ask a question, feel free to DM.

PS: The reason why it took me so long to write this chapter was not only because of school but because I was reading the LN's. Fun fact: Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 were heavily written by the anime with my original work in it. Chapter 1 was purely original until the first day of school for the academy, and chapters 9, 10, and this one are based on the novels. Just a fun little fact if it feels different from reading back on those chapters. 8 was mixing both.

Now that I'm finally done reading the novels, I have big plans for this story.

Until then, peace! See you next time! :D Also, Happy Late New Year, again...